


I'm Willing To Take My Chances

by peterickster (enochiancass)



Category: Bandom, Fall Out Boy, My Chemical Romance, Panic! at the Disco
Genre: M/M, Office AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-15
Updated: 2017-01-30
Packaged: 2018-05-20 20:32:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 16,071
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6023653
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/enochiancass/pseuds/peterickster
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>pete and patrick are fucking stupid. luckily they have joe. also they all work at a record label.</p><p>now including: 2-year timestamp!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own any of these people, blah blah, e.t.c.
> 
> This work is un beta'd. I might go through it later and fix it up. 
> 
> It'll probably have about three or four more chapters. Idk when I'll be updating but it probably won't be a regular schedule due to school. Sorry :/ 
> 
> Anyways, enjoy! Leave kudos, comment, all that jazz.
> 
> (Title from Grand Theft Autumn by Fall Out Boy)

Patrick Stump hates his job. He hates filing paperwork and taking phonecalls and going to meetings and spending eight hours a day essentially stuck in a box. When he got the internship with eyeball records, he expected... something else. But instead he sits around on his ass all day taking care of whatever his boss feels like not doing. And he doesn't even get paid.

Patrick sighs, his hand sliding down his face as he stares at the invoice. It's only two hours into his shift and he wants to die. It's made ten times worse by the fact he didn't get his cup of coffee this morning. That'll teach him to get to work after Gerard, the guy practically drinks from the pot.

Patrick stares at the paperwork and spaces out, imagining what it would be like if things had gone different. This is certainly not where he'd thought he would be two years ago, fresh out of highschool and ready to make music. This isn't quite what he imagined when he set off to make a career in the music industry.

He's startled out of his self-pity when there's a large crashing noise behind him and he looks down at the floor where his trash can now lays, knocked over next to one Peter Lewis Kingston Wentz III.

"Hey, Trick," Pete smiles up at him, as if what had just happened was totally normal. Which Patrick has to admit, it kinda is with Pete. "I got you a coffee." He adds as he holds up a starbucks cup, seemingly somehow unaffected by Pete's fall.

Patrick smiles. "Thanks Pete." He takes the coffee and practically downs the whole thing in one go, ignoring the way it burns his tongue. "I really fucking needed that."

Pete nods understandingly and smirks. "That's what you get for letting Gee beat you into the office. He practically drinks the shit out of the pot."

A few moments of silence pass. Pete looks down at the papers on Patrick's desk. "So what are you working on anyways?" He asks.

He sighs. "Invoices from the recording studio. Im supposed to have them filed before lunch."

"Oh. Well, when you're done with that do you wanna help me glue all of Trohman's stuff to his desk?"

Patrick shook his head in disbelief, "Dude do you even care if you get fired?"

Pete just shrugged. "Come on dude, Alex has a total hard on for me."

 _Well I guess I could relate to that_ , Patrick thinks to himself wryly.

"Well, I guess oughta' get some work done," Pete says, "Alex may have a total crush on me but Marc would gladly cut me if I don't reach my quota," He sighs dramatically and then shrugs. "See you later, Lunchbox!" He says with a wink, causing a blush to spread across Patrick's cheeks.

"Don't call me that," he mumbles, but Pete doesn't hear because he's already off, slinking over to Joe's desk and greeting him with noogie, causing Joe to flail and knock over his cup of, well, _Joe_.

"Oh, dude come on!" Joe protest with indignation.

Pete just giggles and disappears around the corner in the direction of his own cubicle.

Patrick sighs and rests his face in his hands. For the almost two years he's been working here he's had an embarrassingly large crush on Pete. Unfortunately, Pete was painfully straight. He's been dating the same girl, Jeanae, on and off for a while now, though Patrick hasn't heard anything about her since the last break up three months ago. The happiness he had felt over the split had flooded him with guilt, especially when Pete would come into work, eyes puffy and red.

"Dude," Patrick hears from behind him and feels a clap on his shoulder, "you've got it bad."

Patrick looks up. "Go away Joe."

Joe puts his arms up in protest. "Hey, I'm just saying, you're pretty obvious. Like, I have no idea how he hasn't noticed. But then again you're pretty oblivious too."

Patrick stares in confusion. "What do you mean?"

Joe just shrugs. "He just spends a lot of time over here, that's all."

Patrick smirks. "So do you, Joe."

Joe breaks out in a wide grin. "Yeah but Pete's not getting laid by Andy on a daily basis."

"Dude! TMI!" Patrick's face wrenches up in disgust and Joe laughs at him. Patrick throws an eraser at his head.

"Ow!" Joe rubs his head and pouts, and now it's Patrick's turn to laugh.

"Besides, Pete is like, painfully straight!"

"Trick," Joe starts solemnly, "Anyone who wears pants that tight is atleast a little bit gay." Joe makes a thoughtful face, bringing his hand up to stroke where his beard would be, "and didn't he like, wear eyeliner to the office party last halloween?"

"So? That new guy Frank wears eyeliner all the time."

Joe stares at Patrick in disbelief before bursting into laughter. Patrick stares in confusion while Joe laughs for a good two minutes.

"Dude," Joe huffs, still out of breath from his laughing fit. "Frank has been sleeping with Gerard for like, a month now."

Patrick's eyebrows shoot up and he searches for what to say, settling with an expressive, "oh."

"Ahem."

Patrick swivels his chair around and Alex is standing expectantly, eyeing the stack of papers on Patrick's desk.

"Lunch is in an hour, I hope you're almost done with those?"

"Um y-yeah im just about finished" Patrick replies, cursing himself for stuttering.

Alex looks back at the stack of papers skeptically but nods, turning his attention towards Joe.

"Trohman, what are you doing away from your desk?" He asks in exasperation. "Your literal job is answering the phones."

Joe shrugs. "They weren't ringing."

Alex stares at Joe without expression. Like a mother who has come to accept the fact that their child will never live up to their expectations of being a doctor and much prefers to smoke weed in the basement.

And then a phone starts ringing from across the aisle. Alex raises his eyebrow expectantly and Joe sighs.

Except when when Joe walks over to pick up the phone, he ends up picking up _the entire handset_ , peeling it away from the desk with strands of glue hanging down.

"What the- ... Wentz!!"

Patrick hears Pete's giggle as Joe chases him across the office, the ringing phone left forgotten.

Alex mutters something about 'goddamn children' and makes his way back to his office.

Patrick just makes out the sound of Pete's triumphant whoop and Joe's muffled voice saying "Come on dude let me out of the closet."

 _Yeah, it's definitely not my dream job_ , Patrick thinks to himself as he gets back to work with an amused smile, _but things could definitely be worse_.

\--------

  
The next few weeks droned on, and Patrick's mood seemed to get progressively worse. Though, that could have something to do with Pete getting back together with Jeanae.

"I really think it's gonna work out this time," Pete said beside him staring off dreamily.

Patrick scoffed. "Yeah dude. That's what you said the last, what? Like five times?'

Pete's mouth turned downwards in a slight frown.

Patrick sighs, running a hand through his hair in frustration. "Sorry, I guess I'm just kinda grouchy today. I was up all night trying to get caught up on my classes."

It wasn't technically a lie. He really had been up until midnight finishing up his paper for music theory. But he figured it was best he left out the part where Janae was kind of his least favorite person on the planet right now.

Pete nods. "It's okay Trickster, I get it. Sometimes I forget you're still in school." Pete sits in thoughtful silence for a few moments before perking up. "Oh yeah! Jeanae is taking me to see this band on Saturday. It's supposed to be tons of fun and she said you could come along?"

Patrick almost laughs at how much he definitely _does not want to do that._ Spending a night out being forced to watch Pete make out with his girlfriend is not exactly what Patrick would consider ‘fun'. He's about to think up some excuse as to why he can't go, but apparently Pete can see the hesitation on his face because then Pete is giving him his best puppy dog eyes and- _fuck_. How the hell is Patrick supposed to say ‘no' now?

"Come oon, Trick!"

Patrick lets out a defeated sigh. "Fine," he says, "but you have to buy me drinks because I'm still underage for another two months."

Pete beams and Patrick's heart flutters. _Fuck. He's so fucked._

"Sure thing, Trick!" Pete grabs Patrick's face with both hands and presses a quick, sloppy kiss to his cheek before skipping off to most likely mess with Joe.

Patrick sat in his chair, heart racing, wondering why the universe hated him so much.

\--------

Saturday comes quicker than Patrick would've liked and soon enough, he's standing in front of his closet, in his tiny apartment, trying to decide what to wear. He never really paid attention to his attire in high school. Usually throwing on a pair of jeans and a T-shirt, pulling on a hat, and calling it a day. Once he started his internship, he had to start paying a bit more attention, and now his closet included several pairs of khakis and various button-ups, none of which were very helpful in this situation.

He decides to go with his Bowie tee and pulls on his nicest pair of jeans, choosing a fedora over his well-worn trucker hats.

He considers just calling Pete and telling him he can't go anymore. That he's swamped with homework or he's feeling sick, but his doorbell chooses that exact moment to ring. He gives himself one last look-over in the mirror and pads up to his door, opening it to reveal one Joe Trohman.

"Hey man, you ready?" He asks.

"No."

He gives Pete a sympathetic glance. "Come on dude, they're not gonna last that long. Andy said Pete told him they were already fighting again."

"That doesn't help that fact that he's straight."

Joe frowns. "Whatever. I still don't believe it."

Patrick sighs. "Let's just get this over with."

They drive in companionable silence for the 20 minutes it takes to get into the city and Joe pulls up in front of the club.

"So who's even playing tonight?" He asks Joe as they make their way to the entrance.

"Some group called Racetraitor. They're supposed to be pretty fucking good."

Patrick nods and they enter the club, the sound of chatter and the booming of a baseline fill the room at a slightly uncomfortable volume.

"Trick!"

Patrick's heart speeds up when he sees Pete waving at him from across the room, and subsequently falls to the pit of his stomach when he sees Jeanae hanging off of his arm.

"I'm glad you guys could make it" Jeanae says when they get closer.

Patrick mumbles something akin to _yeah, whatever,_ and Joe elbows him.

"Thanks for inviting us," Joe says back with a smile.

"Frank and Gee are here too," Pete adds nodding to the bar and shrugging, "They're a thing apparently?"

The music in the bar stops playing and the band saunters onto the stage. A guy in tight pants and a lot of eyeliner introduces them and what songs they're gonna perform and before long Patrick is met with noise. _A lot of noise_. Everyone else seems to be enjoying it though. Pete just runs and practically dives into the crowd gathered in front of the stage and JJeanne laughs at him from her seat at the bar. Joe follows soon after Pete and Patrick is left standing by himself. He turns to look for Frank and Gerard at their spot at the bar but he sees them sneaking into the bathroom together instead and decides they'd probably be better left alone.

Patrick wonders over to the bar and takes a seat, hoping the bartender doesn't decide to ID him. He calls the bartender over and asks for a shot of tequila, slumping in his seat at the words. "I.D. please?"

The bartender must notice this because he sighs and says, "Just don't tell anyone," pouring Patrick his shot.

Patrick sends him a grateful look and slams the shot back, raising it questioningly towards the other man. The bartender, Bob according to his nametag, sighs and fills him back up again. Patrick sends back the second one just as quickly and gives Bob another pleading look.

"No more," he says sternly.

Patrick sighs and nods in understanding. "Could I get a coke then?"

Bob nods and walks off, coming back a moment later with a glass of coke.

"So whats up?" he asks Patrick, leaning his elbows on the bar, eyebrow raised quizzically in Patrick's direction.

"Nothing," Patrick says, staring down at his glass of coke. He really doesn't wanna think about it, much less talk about it to a stranger. However cute that stranger may be. But the look Bob gives him really reminds Patrick of Pete's puppy-dog eyes and alcohol always has made him more talkative if not a bit oversharing.

"Bullshit" Bob replies and Patrick sighs.

"Really it's nothing," Patrick says, "just stupid guy troubles I guess." He shrugs and Bob smiles sympathetically.

"I know how you feel. I just broke up with my boyfriend, Ray, about a week ago." Bob says. "It sucks ass. And not in the good way."

He chuckles. "Atleast he was your boyfriend in the first place. Apparently I insist on being in love with my bestfriend a.k.a. the straightest guy I know. He's here with his girlfriend."

"Yikes."

"Yeah."

Bob glances over his shoulder before leaning over to pour two shots worth of liquor into Patrick's coke. Patrick looks at him questioningly but he just shrugs.

"You kinda deserve it right now."

"Thanks, dude."

Bob nods. He opened his mouth to say something but then a group of people sit down on the other side of the bar, calling home over.

"I'll be right back," he said apologetically.

And then Patrick was alone again. Atleast he has booze now.

  
He decides to walk around for a bit but when he turns around he runs straight into something warm and solid, spilling his drink and almost falling straight backwards, but an arm shoots out to steady him.

  
"Dude, Patrick how much have you had to drink?" asks a familiar voice. Gerard. "You're not even legal dude."

  
Patrick squints his eyes at the suddenly very blurry world. Fuck. "Have you guys seen my glasses?"

  
Gerard raises an eyebrow. Or maybe he smirks. Patrick really can't see for shit right now.

  
"They're right here." Another arm nudges Patrick's shoulder and he looks down and sees a blob that kinda resembles his glasses. He snatches them away and puts them on, and can now clearly make out a very disheveled Gerard and a Frank who doesn't look very much better.

Patrick raises his eyebrow quizzically. "So where are you two headed?"

Gerard shoots him a look like _shut up_ , but Frank smiles mischievously and says, "Oh you know, Gee wanted to show me a few things at his apartment."

 _You mean like his dick_ , Patrick thinks to himself. But wait, he should totally say that out loud.

"You mean like his dick?"  
Patrick snickers at the obvious blush on both of their faces. Although they were both pretty red to begin with. Sex in a public bathroom will do that to you.

"Anyways, one of you has to buy me a drink before you leave," Patrick adds, "You guys totally just spilled mine."

"Hey!" Gerard protested, pointing a finger at Patrick, "you ran into me."

"Dudeeee come on. It'll make up for leaving me here all by myself."

Gerard sighs and looks around the room. "Fine," he says in exasperation, "I'll get you a beer."

Patrick beams as Gerard slithers up to the bar and waves Bob over. He knows he's gonna need a lot more than one beer to make this night tolerable but it's a start.

Gerard comes back over and hands off the beer, before grabbing Frank by the arm and practically dragging him towards the door.

"See you later, Trick!"

He sighs and makes his way back over to the bar, and starts practically chugging his beer.

"Ahem."

Patrick looks up to see Bob staring at him.

"I see you've found more booze."

Patrick shrugs. "It was inevitable."

Bob laughs and it lights up his whole face. "Yah im kinda starting to see that."

Patrick would reply but he's distracted. Distracted by the way Bob is leaning over the counter and he can feel the other man's breath on his face in gentle puffs. Or by the not quite golden color of his hair. Or by his lip ring. Patrick wonders what it would feel like to kiss someone with a lip ring. _Or get a blowjob from them._

"Like what you see?" Bob asks in a teasing tone.

"I-I umm," Patrick splutters and he can feel heat rising to his cheeks. _Yes_ , he thinks.

"Well my shift ends in an hour," Bob says with a suggestive wink. "And my apartment is next door."

Patrick isn't usually one for one-night stands, but he could use a distraction. And as far as distractions go, this one was really cute.

He nods and Bob breaks into a smile. "Okay."

Later that night, Bob is putting on his coat and Patrick finds Joe to whisper "Im leaving"

Joe looks at him questioningly, but Patrick points to Bob and his expression changes to shocked and then he's smirking. "You sly motherfucker."

"Yeah, yeah, Joe I'll see you on Monday."

"Alright dude. Have fun."

Patrick heads back over to where Bob is now standing and they leave the bar. They're blasted with frigid air but it's not before they're back inside, in what appears to be the landing for an apartment building.

"So," Bob says, "I've been wondering all night what it feels like to kiss you."

And he finds out. Once they make it upstairs to the apartment, he finds out again, pressed up against the inside of the door. And he finds out a third time, laid out flat on his bed, with Patrick hovering over him.

"You know," Patrick whispers into Bob's neck, "I've been wondering all night what it would feel like to have your mouth wrapped around my dick."

And he finds out.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pete's point-of-view. Basically him realizing his total love for Patrick.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long to update. School has been v stressful and I've been too bummed out most of the time to actually write so yah. But anyways enjoy :))

By the end of the night Pete is fucking drenched with sweat and he's pretty sure after the elbow he'd taken to the nose hes bleeding too. Fucking worth it.

"Dude," Joe says, eyes bugging out when he sees Pete, "you're nose is like, fucking broken."

Pete shrugs. "I think it's just bleeding." He looks around the bar. "Where's Trick?"

By then, the bar was close to empty, aside from the bartender wiping down the counter and a few odd people passed out in corners. The band is still clearing away their set and there isn't a trace of any blonde hair poking out from under a fedora or decidedly unfortunate argyle sweaters in sight.

"He left."

Pete looks back at Joe inquisitively. "Did he walk? Didn't you two like, take the same car?"

Pete feels slight concern at the idea of Patrick walking home. It's dark out by now and they aren't exactly in the best part of town.

Joe rolls his eyes. Fucker.

"No, you asshat. He left with someone."

Pete's eyebrows shoot up practically to his hairline. "Oh."

And then he feels something stir in his stomach, threading its way up into his throat. He would've thought he was about to throw up but he'd only had two drinks and he's had way more than that without any repercussions. He almost feels jealous, but if he admitted that to himself then all his hard work of repressing his feelings towards his best friend will have gone to waste. We can't have that now can we?

"Jesus dude you look like I just told you your mom died," Joe says with a knowing smirk. Pete doesn't know what Joe thinks he knows because he doesn't even know anything.

"Anyways," Joe continues, "speaking of Patrick, where's your girlfriend?"

Pete feels a mix of emotions, among them disappointment and relief when he thinks exactly where his girlfriend is.

"I don't have a girlfriend."

Joe looks confused and pointedly exasperated but then understanding visibly washes over him, smoothing out his face. "Shit dude I'm sorry."

"Yeah, whatever like we all didn't see it fucking coming."

"True."

Pete laughs. "Fucker."

It was true though. They had all seen it coming, Pete included. And shockingly, Pete honestly didn't care. They had been drifting apart for the last few weeks and the breakup felt more like a weight off of his chest.

"So do you need a ride? Jeanae gave you a ride yah?" Joe asks.

"Yeah. Could I maybe crash at your place tonight?"

Joe suddenly has concern in his eye. "Are you sure you're okay? I mean I know we all saw it coming but still, it's gotta suck."

Pete smirks.

"Trust me dude, I'm okay with it, relieved even. I just wanna hang out with my bff."

Joe looks skeptical at this but doesn't protest. "Yah man. Do you wanna pick up a pizza on the way home?"

"Well, duh"

\--------

It's 2:30am and Pete lay awake on the couch of one Joe Trohman.

Empty pizza boxes lay on the coffee table, and Joe's snoring drifts through his open bedroom door.

Pete drags a lazy hand over his eye and rolls off the sofa, heading to the kitchen to get a glass of water.

He'd actually gotten a good four hours of sleep before being woken up by his nightmares, more sleep than he usually gets. But now, he's up and he doubts he's getting back to sleep again.

Standing in the kitchen, drinking his glass of water, Pete finds his mind wandering to Patrick. He'd been kind of blindsided when Joe told him he went home with someone. Not only was that just something Patrick didn't do, but Pete hadn't expected to react that way. He's admitted to himself by now that he's jealous. He's admitted that, yeah, he kinda is a little bit in love with the guy. Or a lotta bit.

Of course that doesn't mean he's not completely done with being in denial. People are jealous of their best friend all the time, right? Pete's just jealous that he's not going home with cute bartenders, right?

Of course he knows this is wrong. Pete would much rather go home with cute fedora-wearing interns. At this admission, Pete froze, upon a greater realization . He wants to sleep with his best friend. Which is yeah, okay, the prospect of dating his best friend seems cool except, he ruins every relationship he touches. He would probably end up driving Patrick away from him forever. There's no way he could handle that.

But as Pete imagines watching Patrick being with someone else, he realizes he couldn't handle that either. He sighs. Why is his life so fucking complicated. Patrick probably doesn't even like him like that.

He wanders back over to the couch and slumps into it, staring at the blank television screen. He considers maybe trying to find a pen and paper and clear his head but he doesn't think even that would help right now.

Should he tell Patrick? It would certainly get a weight off of his chest but what if he freaked Patrick out? Fuck.

He lays back down across the couch and closes his eyes, willing himself to go to sleep. He lays there for two hours, mind wandering endlessly until he finally drifts off.

\-------

It's two hours later when Pete is woken up with a pillow to the face.

"Dude what the fU-" Pete's protest is cut short as he falls gracelessly off the couch and onto the very unwelcoming hardwood floor.

Joe laughs. Pete glares.

"What the fuck."

"Come on dude get up I'm taking you to brunch!" Joe says with a smile. Bastard.

Pete sighs and presses the palms of his hands into his eyelids. Even after six hours of sleep he seems to be eternally exhausted.

"I will throw another pillow at you."

"Alright, alright I'm up," he replies, slowly sitting up and hoisting himself from the floor.

"Alright," Joe says with a nod. "Denny's okay?"

Pete nods.

"Sweet."

\--------

They get to Denny's at 7:27am and are sat at a booth next to the window. It's a clear morning in early February and it's still cold enough to need about three layers.

"So," Joe says with an eyebrow slightly raised, "what's on your mind?"

Pete shrugs, "nothing, really."

"Oh come one don't give me that crap," Joe replied, "you've got that face that says you're a million miles away."

"I don't know dude," he sighs, "it's just... I don't know."

"Did you finally discover you're in love with Patrick?" The curly haired man asks with a smirk.

Pete stares with his mouth open. How the fuck did Joe know when he didn't even know? Does that mean Patrick knows? And if Patrick knows he must not feel the same way or he would've made a move right? So that means Patrick doesn't like him? He went home with the bartender last night so he's obviously into dudes and if Pete was so obviously into Patrick, Patrick would've done something if he'd liked Pete, yeah? Oh god Patrick must me so weirded out. Pete seriously feels like he's about to die.

"Dude, calm down you look like you're having an internal meltdown," Joe said, barely containing a laugh.

"I am," Pete chokes out, and the laugh Joe had been holding back escapes.

Pete tries to glare. He fails miserably.

"Dude, Pete, it was pretty obvious," Joe says with a smirk. "And by the way, you're fucking stupid."

"Hey!" He objects with a frown.

"Whatever man," Joe laughs, "you two have been pining over each other for fucking ever and I'm sick of it. You need to ask him out before I lock you two in a closet."

"Wait," the smaller man stares at his bestfriend in confusion, "Patrick likes me?!"

Joe actually hits his head against the table. When he looks up Pete is shell shocked, his mouth hanging open.

"Dude he's fucking head-over-heels," Joe says in exasperation. "He's also equally as fucking stupid. I swear you two are perfect for each other."

It's at that moment that their server wanders over. And of-fucking-course its Brendon Fucking Urie.

Brendon was the intern at Eyeball Records before Patrick and Pete hasn't seen him since he quit to go back to college. Also Brendon may or may not be the reason Pete is out of the closet, due to the night they spent in the closet at the office Christmas party. Which may or may not also be what caused he and Jeanae's second-ever break up.

"Is that Brendon Fucking Urie?" Joe asks.

"In the flesh!" Brendon smiles at them. "What can I get you fuckers?"

A head pops out from the kitchen and a small brown-haired man says, "Brendon, language!"

"Sorry, Ryan," Brendon calls back still smiling. "Anyways, how are you guys? Still working at Eyeball?"

"Yeah, we've got a new intern and Pete does interviews now," Joe says and leans back against the seat of the booth. "Dude what has it been? Like five years?"

Brendon nods. "I've missed you fuckers." He turns his smile to Pete.

"Dude congrats on the promotion! How are you and Jeanae?"

Pete smirks. "Not good. She dumped me yesterday."

Brendon laughs. "Hey don't worry you'll be back together soon enough!"

And Pete realizes he doesn't want to be back together with Jeanae. When he considers being done with her, once and for all, it's freeing.

Pete shrugs, "I don't think so."

Joe smirks, "Yeah, our boy Pete has got his sights set on someone else."

"Shut up, Trohman," Pete says, eyes narrowed.

"Oh really now?" Brendon inquires, his interest obviously piqued.

"Yeah he's totally got the hots for the new intern. It's hilarious, they're both so in love and too stupid to fucking realize it." Joe tells with a laugh.

Brendon's eyes light up with interest. "Oh really? I see Pete has a type."

Brendon smirks at Pete, who has turned an obvious shade of red while Joe tilts his head in confusion.

"What do you mean?" The curly-haired man asks.

The excitable server whoops loudly. "You don't know? Dude me and Pete totally fucked in the supply closet during the '07 christmas party. That's why he and Jeanae broke up and why he's out of the fucking closet. I totally turned him."

Joe's mouth hangs open in shock and the same brown-haired man from earlier appears behind Brendon's shoulder. "Brendon watch your goddamn language."

"Oh hey, Ryan this is Pete and Joe they work at Eyeball records," Brendon says, ignoring Ryan's hypocritical chastising.

Ryan looks at Brendon like he's grown an extra head.

"Brendon, Beebo, sweetheart, are you saying you know people who work at a fucking record label?" Ryan asks, his face full of pure exasperation.

"I mean, yeah."

"That tends to be important information when you're in the process of looking to get signed."

"Oh yeah."

Ryan drops his head into his hands. A muffled, "how do I put up with you," is barely audible through his fingers.

"Oh, come on you love me," Brendon says and licks Ryan's ear.

"Behave."

Brendon frowns dramatically. "Fine."

"Wait, so you guys are looking for a label?" Joe asks, obviously deciding to ignore the fact that Pete and Brendon used to be a thing and he didn't know about it.

Brendon's frown drops from his face and he begins to bounce excitedly and he reminds Pete of an extremely hyper puppy.

"Yup!" The puppy exclaims, "Me and Ryro are in a band with our friends Jon and Spencer. We're totally fucking awesome."

The sound of a bell ringing sounds through the Denny's as a family of four enters the restaurant.

"Okay, Brendon time to get back to work. And please watch your language I will fire you."

"Aye aye, Captain," Brendon says with a mock salute and Ryan sighs, shaking his head.

"Anyways I gotta go take care of these people, it was nice to meet you guys!" Ryan says before turning around and walking over to where the family of four has sat down.

"So you've got your own band, huh?" Pete asks with a wide grin. "Good for you dude. If you brought a demo into the studio I could totally give it to Alex or Marc or someone. Put in a good word."

At that, Brendon's eyes light up and he's back to overly-hyper chihuahua mode. "Dude!" Brendon exclaims, "that would be fucking awesome!"

Ryan clears his throat from where he's taking the order of an apparently offended family of four.

Brendon smiles apologetically, "sorry," he says with a small wave.

"Anyways," Pete continues, reaching into his pocket to grab his wallet, from which he produces a business card, "here's my card. Contact me when you have a demo ready to go and I'll let you know when you can bring it in."

"Dude, sweet," Brendon says and his eyes glint like a child's on Christmas morning.

Joe clears his throat. "So like, are you planning on actually ever taking our order or...?"

"Oh, right!" Brendon exclaims, and proceeds to clear his throat, "welcome to Denny's how may I help you?" He adds with a smile.

"Black coffee and a buttermilk stack, please," Pete says facetiously, flipping his menu shut and holding it up to Brendon.

"Of course, sir. And for you," he asks, turning to look towards Joe.

"Same as Pete, but I'll take some cream in my coffee. I don't know how he drinks that stuff black."

Brendon gathers up Joe's menu. "I'll be back with your coffees," he says in a falsely professional air and he whisks away into the kitchen.

Joe looks over at Pete and raises an eyebrow judgmentally. "You and Brendon?"

"Shut up," Pete says, feeling a light blush creep into his face. "I was drunk and he looks fucking hot in eyeliner."

Joe raises an eyebrow and raises his hands in mock surrender. "Okay dude, whatever. I just don't get why you didn't tell me."

Pete shifts uncomfortable and clears his throat. "Because he was like, not quite legal?"

"Wait what?"

"Yeah he was like, seventeen and a half," Pete continues, a slight blush on his face. Joe looks at him slightly stunned.

"Oh"

"Yeah, whatever that was like, five years ago?" Pete says, "I kinda freaked out at the time and didn't tell anybody because I totally thought I was gonna get arrested."

Joe shrugs. "Understandable."

Brendon wanders over with their coffee and sets it down on the table, sliding into the booth beside Pete.

"Hey, fucker don't you have work to do?"

Brendon shrugs, "Whatever. You guys are like, the only people here."

Joe laughs and shakes his head in a mix of amusement and disbelief, "Dude how have you not been fired?"

A mischievous glint sparkles in Brendon's eye and he leans over to whisper, "Pete isn't the only guy I've dragged out of the closet; it's kind of a hobby of mine. Let's just say Ryan's tight pants and eyeliner made it obvious to everyone but him which way he swings."

"Dude," Pete says with a laugh.

And then Brendon looks over at Ryan and his eyes soften. "I don't think it's just about turning him anymore though. I think he's special," he looks over at his old friends with a soft smile, "I think I love him."

"Dude, you're so gay."

Brendon laughs loudly, "Fucker!," he exclaims, punching Joe in the shoulder.

That's when Ryan comes over with two stacks of buttermilk pancakes and sets them down in front of Pete and Joe.

"Brendon, come on I need you in the kitchen," Ryan says, his tone mildly exasperated and mildly amused at Brendon's antics.

Brendon pouts. "You're no fun," he says as he slides out from the booth, smacking a sloppy kiss on Ryan's cheek before sauntering into the kitchen.

Ryan's face is red when he addresses Joe and Pete with an, "Enjoy your meal," before sliding off to check on the family of four.

Joe and Pete eat their pancakes in comfortable silence before going over to the counter to pay for their meal. Brendon comes over when he sees them waiting.

"Alright so that'll be $11.07," Brendon says with an air of false professionalism.

He takes the twenty dollar bill that Joe offers him and count out the eight dollars and ninety-three cents in change.

"$8.93 in change, and here's your receipt," he says, handing Joe the small, white piece of paper, "enjoy your day."

"You too, Brendon," Pete replies with a smile, "Remember to keep in touch! Im serious about that demo."

Brendon nods vigorously. "Will do."

"Alright, bye!" Pete says, waving over his shoulder as him and Joe leave the Denny's.

They walk in silence through the parkinglot to where Joe parked his car, and Pete slides into the passenger seat.

They're on their way back to Joe's place when Pete asks, "So do you really think Patrick likes me?"

Joe bangs his head on the steering wheel. (Luckily theyre stopped at a red light).

"Dude, he's fucking in love with you," Joe says, adding, "He also kinda thinks you're straight."

Pete blanches. Patrick thought he was straight!? Is that why he never made any sort of move? If Patrick knew he was bi would he have expressed interest? Does Pete actually have a chance with the short red-head who sings like an angel?

"So tell him Im gay and we can live happily ever after!" Pete says, feeling himself start to get excited at the prospect.

Joe laughs. "Dude, I've tried. He's in like hardcore denial."

Pete mulls this over in his head. I guess that means he'd have to tell Patrick. But what if he tells Patrick and he still does nothing? What if Patrick really doesn't like Pete. Though Joe seems so sure of himself.

"Hey come on, quit overthinking, Pete," Joe says softly, "ask him on a date or something, he'll say yes."

Pete nods to himself slowly, "okay."

He could do that.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Patrick has 'The Best Day Ever'? And Joe and Brendon team up to finally get the two shitheads to realize they're totally in love with each other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so this should've been posted a looooong time ago. like, a month ago, probably but then a bunch of crap came up. im very sorry.
> 
> anyways im planning on having two more chapters after this and hopefully they wont take like a month each to upload.
> 
> comment, leave kudos, stuff like that, and please enjoy!

Patrick's alarm goes off at 7:30am Monday morning. He grumpily rolls over in bed, aggressively hitting the off switch and sliding out from the sheets. His feet pad along as he stumbles across his room, rubbing at his eyes blearily.

 

He really needs coffee. Like now. Like more than he needs air. 

 

The lights are off in the kitchen but the sunlight shining through the windows provides enough light to get around. Though, apparently not enough to keep Patrick from stubbing his toe on the counter.

 

"MOTHER-FUCKING  _OW_ ," he shouts, throwing his hands out to steady himself on the counter. He rests there for a few minutes, cursing under his breath and waiting for the throbbing to subside before dramatically limping to his coffee maker. The coffee tin is sitting on the counter and when Patrick picks it up he realizes it is very much empty. He sighs. Today i _s no_ t his day. He's just going to have to stop at Starbucks on his way into work and get more grounds on the way home. Meaning he's probably going to be late, he realizes, as he glances at the clock on the stove.

 

He goes back into his bedroom and throws something on, not having the energy to pay attention. It feels fuzzy. Argyle? He steps into his bathroom and splashes water on his face, trying to wake himself up enough to not get into an accident on the way to work, though he's beginning to think that wouldn't even be the worst part of his day. Then he brushes his teeth and hair, pulling on a cap before he's heading out the door. 

 

The Starbucks is a block away from the office and he gets there with five minutes before he's supposed to card in. Of course, because he's running late there's a line of five people already waiting to order. So he's definitely late. Atleast his favorite barista is here today, otherwise he would've probably had to deal with Chris or Nick. Patrick would bet his Collector's Edition Bowie Vinyl that when either of them are working he's paying five dollars for their spit in his coffee. It's not Patrick's fault he's grumpy in the morning.

 

The line slowly dissipates and almost ten minutes later Patrick steps up to take his order.

 

"Hey, Patrick," the brown-haired barista says. He's smiling wider than usual which eases some of the stress Patrick had been feeling. 

 

"Hey, Tyler," Patrick replies, "you look really happy today." 

 

Tyler's smile widens even further and his bright eyes crinkle up into crow's feet. 

 

"You know that guy I was telling you about?" He asks

 

Patrick nods, "You mean Josh?" He gives Tyler a knowing smirk, raising one eyebrow "did you finally make a move?"

 

"Nope!" Tyler says excitedly, "I didn't have to because he did!" 

 

Someone in line behind Patrick clears their throat. 

 

Tyler ducks his head a little, clearly flustered at having made people wait and clears his throat nervously. "Right, so um- the usual?" 

 

"Yes, please," Patrick says. "Congrats on Josh man that's awesome."

 

Tyler smiles again and nods.

 

Patrick pays for his drink and is waiting to pick it up when he gets a call from Joe.

 

"Hello?"

 

"You fucker you're not calling in sick today are you?" Joe asks.

 

"No im running late I had to stop in at Starbucks," he replies, walking up to the counter to get his drink that's just been put out. He waves at Tyler as he pushes through the door and starts heading back over to his car, "why do you care so much anyways?"

 

"No reason dude. I just feel like you might wanna be here today," Joe says and Patrick can hear the smirk over the phone.

 

"Righhhht..," Patrick says slowly, "that's not cryptic at all." 

 

"Just trust me dude, today's gonna be a good day," Joe says, "anyways I gotta go, paperwork and stuff."

 

"Okay I'll see you in like 10 minutes," Patrick says, sliding into his car. 

 

"Yep, bye dude!" Joe says and the line dies. 

 

Patrick gets to work a little less than ten minutes later and cards in forty-five minutes late. He's really not looking forward to the talk with Alex he knows is coming. 

 

He waves at Pete, who's on the phone, as he walks past and swears he sees him blush. He must be talking to Jeanae. At that thought, Patricks slightly improved mood sours again. It's not that he thinks Jeanae is a bad person, he just wouldn't mind much if she happened to completely disappear off the face of the planet. Patrick sighs. He's kind of a dick when he's uncaffeinated.

 

"Yeah, you could totally swing by later today," he hears Pete say, "I'll be here until around 5."

 

Patrick keeps walking towards his desk and ignores the pang of jealousy washing through him. Pete's never gonna like him back, eventually him and Jeanae are gonna get it right, and so Patrick needs to get over this stupid crush on his bestfriend already.

 

"Hey, Trick!" He hears Pete call from behind him and determinedly speeds up hoping he'll catch the hint. He doesn't. Of course it's Pete, so he really shouldn't have had very high hopes that he would. 

 

"Goodmorning!"

 

Patrick sighs and looks up from where he's taken his seat to see Pete smiling down on him. He's so goddamn cute and Patrick fucking hates him for it. 

 

"'Morning," Patrick all but mumbles, hoping Pete might still get the hint that Patrick doesn't really wanna talk to him, let alone anyone right now. He'd much rather sulk thank you very much.

 

"How was your weekend?" Pete asks with a smirk, and Patrick curses Joe because he was the only one who knew about Bob and now Pete's asking him about his 'weekend.'

 

"Good," Patrick replies shortly, "yours?"

 

Which, when Patrick thinks about it, it had been pretty decent. Bob was a great distraction and he hadn't thought about Pete for almost a full fifteen hours. That's gotta be some sort of new record, rivaled only by the time before he met him.

 

It seems Pete finally notices Patrick's disinterest in the conversation because his face seems to flicker with dissapointmenthurtconfusion. It's gone as quick as it appeared and its replaced by excitementreliefanticipation. 

 

"As a whole pretty good," Pete says thoughtfully, "me and Jeanae broke up again so..." 

 

Upon hearing this Patrick's heart flutters ( _without_  his permission), but it doesn't get very far before Patrick remembers the conversation he overheard when Pete was on the phone. Did Pete already have a new girlfriend? It's at that moment that Patrick decides the universe truly hates him. 

 

"So who were you on the phone with?" Patrick asks as nonchalantly as he can pull of.

 

Pete seems thrown off by the question and then it seems to click. "Oh! That was Brendon, he's coming in later."

 

Patrick blanches. Brendon. As in Brendon like a boy? Like a boy that Pete may or may not be going on a lunch date with later today? Brendon who 'could totally swing by later today'? Patrick doesn't think he likes Brendon very much. Of course he's never met him before but that's irrelevant. 

 

"Are uh..," Patricks stutters, "are you t-two uh-, like a thing?"

 

Pete stares for a second before letting out a laugh that brightens his entire face. 

 

"Who, Brendon?" Pete asks, his eyes still all crinkly and bright and fucking  _unfair_. "Brendon Boyd Urie?" Pete shakes his head, "no, he's not exactly my type."

 

Now Patrick is just confused.  _Because he's not a girl_? Patrick thinks to himself.  _Or does Pete have a type when it comes to other guys?_  


 

He decides to just stop that train of thought before he gives himself a headache. Or an aneurysm. 

 

A phone rings across the room. 

 

"Well, looks like duty  _calls_!" Pete exclaims before bounding away to answer the phone. Patrick isn't sure if he feels relieved or disappointment.  

 

And of course Patrick gets not even five seconds of peace before Joe is flouncing over with a look on his face that's both questioning and suggestive at the same time. Patrick puts on his best ' _you are not welcome here_ ' face and, unsurprisingly, Joe's course of direction doesn't change.

 

"Hey, trick," Joe greets with a smirk, "hows loverboy?"

 

Patrick gives Joe his best death glare and resolutely ignores the question. 

 

"Dude come  _on_ ," Joe's says with exasperation, "you two are so fucking stupid I swear. Like I didn't know this level was reachable. You two are actually probably the  _thickest_  mos-"

 

"Joe!," Patrick exclaims, "I get the point!"

 

"Sorry," Joe says with a shrug.

 

Patrick sighs. "Look, Joe, even if Pete  _did_ swing my way he wouldn't swing  _my_  way. He could have anyone why would he settle for me?"

 

Joe stares incredulously, blinking slowly at his bestfriend. 

 

"Okay," Joe says, "so first of all, what the  _fuck_  dude. I don't know why you're putting yourself down because you're fucking  _awesome_."

 

Patrick goes to interrupt but Joe raises his hand.

 

" _And,_ not to mention your musical genius and utter adorableness," he continues, "which Pete seems to have noticed as well because he's  _hopelessly in love with you."_  


Patrick stares at his friend who, apparently, has gone crazy. 

 

"Speaking of which," he adds, "he's also newly single. So you should totally get on that."

 

Patrick sighs sufferingly. "Even if everything you just said is true, there's still the problem of my Crippling Social Anxiety, so Pete would be the one 'getting on that' anyways."

 

Joe shrugs. "Well I guess we'll have to wait and see."

 

"I guess so," Patrick says dryly, 100% convinced this is going nowhere. "Oh," he adds, "and for the record, this has been a pretty crappy, not to mention confusing, day, so I don't know why you were so convinced it was going to be The Best Day Ever."

 

"Oh, you'll see," the other man replies. He's really gotta stop it with the cryptic replies because it's beginning to kinda creep Patrick out. 

 

Joe says his goodbyes and goes back over to his cubicle, leaving Patrick to think about things he really shouldnt be thinking about. First of all, he's pretty sure there's some sort of universal rule on thinking about dating your best friend, it's just weird; second of all, he actually has work to get done.

 

Twenty minutes of getting no work done later, a shadow falls over him and he looks up to see a man a few years younger than him with dark brown hair and- eyeliner? Yeah that's definitely eyeliner. 

 

"Can I help you?" Patrick asks the boy, one eyebrow raised.

 

"Umm hopefully?" He replies unsure, "im Brendon and im looking for Pete?" He asks, rather than says.

 

" _You're_  Pete's lunch date?" Patrick asks stricken, then realizes that was probably super rude and blushes fiercely. 

 

Brendon just stares at the redhead before bursting into laughter. 

 

"Been there done that," he replies, still laughing, "and trust me, never going back. Dude's like my older brother by now."

 

Patricks jaw drops. " _Done_  that?"

 

Brendon looks confused. "Uhh, yah? Probably like three times. I kinda had a schoolboy crush on him cause he was in this band at the time, Arma Angelus, and Id go to some of his shows and one time he came up and talked to me and I kinda ended up blowing him?" 

 

Patrick just stared, knowing his face probably had an expression closely resembling horror but he couldn't help it, Joe was never right about  _anything_. "Pete's  _gay_?"

 

Brendon's expression shift into one of confusion before Patrick visibly sees his face harden. "Shit. You're not like a fucking homophobe are you? Pete is a fucking awesome guy okay and if you're gonna treat him like an asshole now just becau-"

 

"Woah woah woah!" Patrick cuts him off waving his hands frantically. "No, dude, Pete is like one of my best friends and besides that would be super hypocritical of me."

 

Brendon relaxes and then tilts his head as realization crosses his face. "You're Patrick aren't you?"

 

"Yeah, why?"

 

The other mans mouth turns up in a sly grin. "Oh no reason, I've just heard a lot about you."

 

Patrick opens his mouth to inquire into the subject.

 

"Anyways," Brendon interrupts, "I should get going. Don't wanna be late to lunch." He smirks and throws Patrick a wink before scampering off supposedly to find pete. Pete, who Brendon  _has had sex with._ Pete who is  _gay_. 

 

Patrick decides not to think about it too much at the moment and instead gets back to work.

 

~~~~~

 

Brendon is walking through the office, just having gotten back from lunch with Pete, and smiling like crazy. He's getting a record deal. Nothing is set in stone of course, but Pete said he had high hopes, and Brendon was always a bit optimistic to a fault. He turned the corner and cursed when he knocked his head into something hard. Apparently, according to the other string of curses, it was someone's head.

 

"Oh, hey Brendon!" The voice says.

 

When Brendon's vision clears, he sees Joe, one hand rubbing at a red spot on his head.

 

"Hey, fucker," Brendon replies.

 

Joe's eyes narrow but he just ends up shrugging it off. "How was your lunch with Pete?"

 

Brendon's smile and good nature immediately return. "Dude, we're totally getting signed! The boys are gonna be so excited. We already have enough material to record a full album and Ryan is a fucking poet dude you would not believe some of the lyrics he writes!"

 

Joe nods companionably. "Dude, nice."

 

"Oh!" Brendon adds offhandedly, "I met Patrick too, and he actually thought Pete was straight. Pete.  _Straight_."

 

Joe shakes his head and sighs. "It's the saddest thing man. They're so in love with each other but I'm pretty sure they both think the other is straight. Do you know how long I've been trying to get them together?"

 

Brendon shrugs. "I could help."

 

"Dude you don't understand." Joe replies, "I've been trying for a year. They're actually the two most oblivious people on the face of the planet."

 

Brendon's eyes narrow. "I think I have a plan."

 

"Oh really?" Joe asks, intrigued.

 

Brendon nods. "If The problem is Pete not knowing or believing Patrick is gay, why don't we prove to him just how gay Patrick really is.

~~~~

 

"Wait whAT?" 

 

Joe, Brendon, and Patrick are all in Joe's living room, watching the original batman cartoon and eating pizza. Patrick had been  _minding his own goddamn business,_ when Joe and Brendon decided it was a good time to convince Patrick that he needed to date Brendon.

 

"What happened to me and Pete apparently being in love with each other?" 

 

"Well," Joe says, "that's kinda the point."

 

Patrick looks between them like they've both grown an extra head. He's super confused. Like look-up-the-word-confused-in-a-dictionary-and-find-a-picture-of-Patrick's-face confused. 

 

"That actually makes no sense," Patrick concludes.

 

Joe sighs. "Look. Basically, Pete thinks you're straight the same way you thought he was straight. So, once he sees you dating Brendon he'll know you really do like guys and then he'll totally challenge Brendon to like a duel or something."

 

"Plus," Brendon adds, "you're pretty cute so I wouldn't mind maybe making out a little bit and 'accidentally' getting caught by Pete."

 

Joe looks over at Brendon. "Aren't you dating Ross?"

 

"Well yeah but he's totally cool with it I already asked him. Besides we have three-ways like all the time so.."

 

"Right," Joe says regrettingly, "I definitely needed to hear that."

 

Brendon just shrugs.

 

Patrick contemplates. If Pete really thought he was straight he guesses this  _would_  clear the waters. But what if Pete didn't care Patrick was dating someone else? That would totally suck. And how the heck could be think Patrick was straight? Although, to be fair, Patrick had also wrongfully assumed Pete was straight until about five hours ago.

 

Besides, what harm could come from this plan? Either Pete gets jealous and confesses his undying love for Patrick or Pete doesn't care at all and Patrick can try and move on while also getting to make out with a cute boy. It's something that needs to happen either way.

 

"Okay," Patrick decides.

 

Joe and Brendon look surprised as though they really didn't expect him to agree to the plan. It probably helped that Patrick was a little bit high. 

 

"I mean yeah. I guess this will finally help me find out for sure if he likes me. And making out with cute boys is always a plus," he says with a shrug.

 

Brendon cracks a grin. "Sweet. I'll have to tell Pete me and Ryro are on a break or something," Brendon gets up and retrieves his phone from the coffee table, "I'll be right back." 

 

Patrick and Joe sit in silence for the five minutes that Brendon is gone. When he reenters the room, they look up at him expectantly. 

 

"Pete's taking me out for drinks," he says, "im gonna play up the whole 'looking for a rebound thing'."

 

"You should probably call Ryan too and tell him what's up," Joe says pointedly. 

 

"Yeah, probably."

 

Brendon vanishes again to make another phone call. 

 

"Do you think it'll work?" Patrick asks Joe, unsure, "do you think he'll get jealous."

 

"Yeah I'm pretty sure," Joe replies, "in fact I wouldn't be surprised if Brendon ends up getting hit in the face."

 

Brendon chooses that moment to walk back into the room, sighing, "the things I do for love!"

 

"Yeah yeah, you're such a saint," Joe says, rolling his eyes. 

 

"I know dude," he says, then turns to Patrick, "anyways we should probably plan how this goes down."

 

Patrick nods. "Basically we need to convince him we slept together after you got wasted and now we're like a thing." 

 

"Yeah pretty much," Brendon says.

 

"And so how are we gonna do that without actually sleeping together?" Patrick asks.

 

The younger man's face adopts a look of mock hurt, "hey!" He objects, "for the record I am an absolutely  _amazing_  lay."

 

Patrick raises one eyebrow. "Right im sure." 

 

"Hey," Joe says, looking thoughtful, "I think I've got an idea."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> P.s. Sorry if the spacing was kinda weird idk what happened


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Joe, Patrick and Brendon execute their plan to get Pete and Patrick together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow! So its been a really long time since I posted the last chapter and I honestly have no excuse other than I kinda forgot about this for a good month :) 
> 
> But its here now!
> 
> Also the italics didnt wanna work so Im gonna have to go theough later and re-italicize stuff but for now Im just gonna leave it :)

 

The plan is simple: have Pete 'catch' Patrick and Brendon out on a 'date'. Pete has a pretty simple schedule so it wouldn't be too hard to engineer. All they have to do is go to whichever club Pete decided to visit that Friday night and get caught being friendly.

Patrick tried to convince Joe and Brendon a few times that this is pointless, and Pete would probably just congratulate them if he caught them making out, but now that the plan was set, he couldn't help but feel a little bit hopeful. If this works he's gonna owe Joe big time.

"Okay," Joe says, "So Pete's gonna be at The Rockwell tonight, apparently he's pretty good friends with the owner, Jack."

Brendon and Patrick nod along with determined looks on their faces. They've been planning this for the past two nights and even Brendon is overly excited to finally put the plan into action, even though he really has nothing to gain. The story they came up with is believable enough: after Pete took Brendon out for drinks, the younger man found his way to Joe's house for something to smoke and Patrick just happened to be there. Since Patrick was just leaving, he offered to give Brendon a ride home, but in the car he passed out and wasn't able to finish giving Patrick directions. So, Patrick ended up having to take the brunette back to his place and set him up on the couch. The next morning, Brendon was supposedly still upset about Ryan and so Patrick ended up comforting him. One thing led to another and now tonight they'll be going on their "second date."

Brendon thinks they don't even need a story, and that once Patrick gets back from the bathroom (where he leaves to so that Pete can 'confront' Brendon) they should just tell Pete the truth. Patrick prefers the story though because he can't see anyone just being okay with being played like that, even with a happy ending.

If he was honest with himself, Patrick was thoroughly impressed Joe was able to come up with such a realistic story. If he were Pete he would believe it. At the thought of Pete he feels a warm twist in his stomach somewhere in between nervous and excited. Tonight would either make or break what he's been dreaming of having for the last year or so. And even though Joe and Brendon are both reassuring him that theres no way Pete doesn't like him, he cant help but doubt it. Of course he knows its probably just him projecting his own insecurities, not letting himself believe someone like Pete could like someone like him.

"Hey, Trick..," Brendon says, turning his head with a sly smile. Patrick raises an eyebrow in encouragement to continue.

"I know how we can make this a little more believable."

He cant help but feel slightly worried at the downright mischievous glint in the younger man's eyes but he decides to ignore it.

"And how's that?" he asks.

"Well... if we really want him to think we slept together just by seeing us, shouldn't we look like we slept together?"

Patrick sighs. "Brendon, Im not sleeping with you." Of course there are way worse people to sleep with but Patrick met Ryan yesterday and he would be lying if he said he wasn't a little bit intimidated.

The other man rolls his eyes. "Okay first of all, rude, and second of all that's not even what I was getting at." Brendon starts crawling over to where Patrick is sitting. "What I'm saying is, it wouldn't hurt to leave a couple marks."

At this point Brendon is leaning over Patrick and he can feel the younger man's breath on his face. The redhead instantly feels his face flush and he fumbles for a reason, earning a teasing smirk from the man still hovering over him.

Joe clears his throat. "Right! Well, Im still here so Im gonna go ahead and be somewhere else. Call me when you're done with... that."

They pay no attention to the older man and as soon as the door shuts Brendon bursts out laughing and sits back on his heels, away from Patrick's face.

"Oh, man," Brendon sighs, "you should've seen his face. Priceless."

Patrick can't help but laugh. "Asshole."

"I know," the younger boy shrugs. "Anyways we better head out if we want to get there before him."

"Yeah okay," Patrick agrees as they stand up. And then he decides fuck it, and launches himself at Brendon, attaching his mouth to the brunette's neck.

When Patrick pulls away, there are so many different emotions on Brendon's face and the redhead can't help but to laugh his ass of.

"Dude," he says, "you should see your face."

Brendon narrows his eyes. "I'm gonna get you back when you least expect it."

Patrick just shrugs. "I'll be waiting."

~~~~

Apparently, when Patrick least expects it is once they're already settled into theyre booth and waiting for Pete. Which, Patrick will admit, makes sense because everyone knows how easily distracted Patrick can be by Pete.

Patrick is just coming back from the bathroom, and as soon as he sits down, Brendon's mouth is on his mouth. Which by the way, is totally not fair because Brendon isn't getting payback he's escalating. So, Patrick decides to do the only sane possibility and pulls a one up of his own, in the form of shoving his tongue down Brendon's throat.

The brunette sputters and instantly pulls away, and Patrick finds himself laughing at Brendon's expense for the second time that night.

"Fucker," Brendon mutters under his breath.

"You started it," Patrick replies simply.

He takes a look around the room to see if maybe Pete is here yet and ends up locking eyes with him.

"Dude," Patrick says to Brendon, looking away from Pete, "how long has Pete been staring at us?"

Brendon glances over Patrick's shoulder and immediately winces. "Dude he definitely saw that kiss."

"Are you sure?"

The younger boy scoffs, "Pretty damn sure dude. You would not believe the daggers he's staring into me right now." Brendon is quiet for a few seconds and then, "oh shit, he's coming over."

"Okay, okay um... how do i look?" Patrick asked nervously, trying to remember if he had put on deodorant.

"Honestly?" Brendon asked, "Kinda like you were just shoving your tongue down some guys throat."

Patrick glares.

"You look good, Patrick."

Patrick nods to that and turns to find Pete just arriving at the table.

"Hi, Pete," Brendon says excitedly at him, resting his head on his hand in a way that better shows off the obviously-there hickie. Patrick sees when Pete sees the hickey and both of their slightly kiss-swolen lips, and he sees when Pete's jaw clenches in obvious displeasure.

"Brendon," Pete nods at him and the barely concealed venom in his voice made Patrick's spine tingle.

Patrick honestly can't believe this is working. Pete is jealous. of Brendon. Pete likes him.

The redhead looks up when Pete sits down next to him in the booth, and throws an arm around his shoulder, obviously trying to press as close as he can to Patrick's side. Honestly he's a little overwhelmed. A few days ago he never would've thought this was possible.

"So," Pete says from his right side, "crazy seeing you guys here, huh?"

"I know!" Brendon replies cheerfully, faking innocence, "what a coincidence!"

Pete grunts.

"So, Pete," Brendon continues, "I really gotta thank you for taking me out last night," his grin widens and he rests his hand on Patrick's thigh, "I feel much better about Ryan."

"How great," Pete smiles through clenched teeth, his knuckles going white where he was clenching them. Patrick is about seventy percent sure that Brendon is about to get punched in the face.

Patrick clears his throat. "So uh.. I have to go to the bathroom."

He points towards the restrooms and towards Pete blocking his path.

"Right!" Pete says as he crawls out of the booth, "take your time," he adds, throwing a glare at Brendon.

Patrick nods and hurries away, hoping Pete will follow him.

~~~~

Pete thinks this must be the most upset he has ever been in his entire life. He's more upset than when Jeanae cheated on him, and he isn't even dating Patrick.

And holy shit Patrick is gay. Patrick is gay and he kisses boys and gives them hickies and lets them use him as a rebound.

He glares up at Brendon. "What. the. fuck, Brendon."

The oblivious, wide-eyed look that Brendon gives Pete is so obviously fake and he feels his anger grow.

"What do you mean, Pete?" Brendon asks.

"Cut the shit, Brendon!" Pete yells, "you can't use Patrick as a rebound!"

Brendon just shrugs, and Pete has to put all of his effort into not punching the younger man in the face. Patrick doesn't deserve this. Not that Pete doesn't love Brendon, but he knows it's only a matter of time before he goes back to Ryan. He can't let Patrick get hurt.

"He doesn't seem to mind it," Brendon says, his eyebrow raised.

"Well I mind it." Pete hisses.

A shit-eating grin breaks out across the younger man's face. "So what you're saying is... you're jealous?"

Pete is about to deny it but he hesitates when he realizes of course he's jealous. Brendon knows he likes Patrick.

"Okay, here's the deal," Brendon continues, "you wanna date Patrick, right? And you've wanted to for a while but you always thought he was straight. Well, he's not. Now, here's the thing, Patrick wants to date you to. So honestly, I have no fucking clue why you haven't chased him into that bathroom yet and kissed him silly." he finishes with a wide grin.

"I thought you-"

"Dude," Brendon interrupts Pete, "he's all yours. So go fucking get him."

Pete nods and quickly slides out of the booth, making his way to the bathroom. When he pushes through the door, he sees Patrick standing at the sink, staring off into space.

"Trick," he says, suddenly very nervous. He's the king of smooth anytime he's trying to get back with Jeanae, but something about Patrick just strips him down and leaves him so open.

Patrick looks up and gives Pete a small smile and his heart stutters. How has he waited so long to do this? How did he manage to live two years without making Patrick his?

He slowly walks over to where the shorter man is standing until theres only a few inches between them.

"What's up, Pete?" the redhead asks.

"I-," Pete tries, but he has no words. He knows what he wants, but he doesn't what to say to make it happen. He can't mess this up.

He's about to turn around and leave, maybe wait until he knows what to say to try again, but he feels a hand wrap around his wrist and suddenly he and Patrick are kissing.

The kiss is soft and innocent, but there's a confidence there that reassures Pete that Patrick wants this just as much as him.

They break apart after a few seconds and Patrick lightly chuckles.

"Please tell me I didn't just fuck everything up," Patrick whispers.

"Definitely not," Pete reassures, and then he grabs Patrick's face with both hands and brings their lips back together. This kiss has more force behind it, and Pete can feel Patrick's sharp intake of breath. He takes the opportunity to press his tongue into the other man's mouth and deepen the kiss.

It turns dirty quickly. Before long, Pete has Patrick pressed up against the sink, his leg shoved between the shorter man's thighs. Their tongues are sliding together and when Pete bites down on Patrick's bottom lip he fucking whines.

That's when someone clears their throat from the doorway and they shoot apart, Patrick trying to tame his mussed up hair.

Pete sighs in relief when he sees who it is.

"Jack!" Pete exclaims, "thank god it's you, I was scared we were about to get yelled at by some random dude."

Jack raises a skeptical eyebrow. "Oh yeah," he says sarcastically, "thank God it was the owner of the bar who found you practically having sex in the bathroom."

Pete grimaces, "Fair point."

Jack laughs, "Well Brendon asked me to check if you guys were in here, and now it makes perfect sense why he didn't want to check himself."

"That little shit."

Jack grunts in agreement and turns to leave, "Oh!" he adds over his shoulder, "Joe and Ryan just got here too. They're at the booth with Brendon."

Pete's confused at the mention of Ryan's name but he thanks Jack anyways and when he turns around to Patrick, the redhead's face looks almost guilty. Pete squints his eyes at him.

"What's up, Trick?" He asks.

"Nothing!" Patrick says a little too quickly, "let's just go back to the booth."

Pete decides to let it drop for now and follows Patrick back to the table, hand in hand. When they get back, Ryan is practically on Brendon's lap, his arm protectively wrapped around the younger man's shoulders. When he locks eyes with Joe, the afro-headed man smirks at him and Pete decides to flip him off.

"So how was the bathroom?" Brendon asks excitedly.

Pete narrows his eyes at him, "It was fine.... when did Ryan get here?" he decides to add.

"Well," Brendon replies, "when you left on your conquest," he pauses to wiggle his eyebrows and Pete can see Patrick's blush from the corner of his eye, "I called up Ryro here and I begged him to take me back. He agreed because he just missed me so much and he drove all the way here just so he could sit on my lap."

Pete looks at Brendon's smug grin and Ryan's glare and decides he's skeptical. "Uh huh. So in the last ten minutes, you called Ryan, got back together, and then Ryan got in his flying car and made the fifteen-minute car ride in under five minutes?"

"Yes?" Brendon replies hopefully and Ryan sighs.

"Babe," the doe-faced brunette says, "just tell him it doesn't matter anymore."

"Tell me what?"

Now it's Brendon letting out an exaggerated sigh. "Fineeeeee," he says and turns his attention to Pete, "Technically, me and Ryro never broke up and he was already on his way here." He says it simply as though he expects it to clear everything up.

"What!?" Pete exclaims in anger, and a few heads turn to see where the outburst came from, so he lowers his voice to a furious hiss, "are you saying you were _cheating_ on Ryan with Patrick!?"

"What? No!" Brendon exclaims, putting his hands up in a placating gesture, "Ryan was okay with it and Patrick knew about it and it was Joe's idea!" He rushes out the last part, pointing a finger to the afro-headed man who hasn't said a word this entire time.

"Wow," Joe says to Brendon, a hand over his heart in mock hurt, "I can't believe you would betray me like that." Brendon just shrugs like 'what are you gonna do?"

Joe rolls his eyes and turns to Pete who is still very much upset and very much confused.

"Pete, calm down it's probably not what you're thinking. I have been trying to get you to idiots together for years but you were both so convinced the other one was straight and so I figured this would clear things up," Joe says simply.

Pete sits in silence, trying to wrap his head around what Joe just said and figure out what to say in return when he feels a hand on his arm.

"Pete?" Patrick asks lightly, "Instill haven't fucked anything up right?"

Pete looks at Patrick and sees the intense nervousness in the redhead's face.

"Of course not," he smiles, "I'm just glad I finally have you."

"Awwwwww!" the three others coo simultaneously.

"Shut up, assholes, I'm still mad at you." Pete says, narrowing his eyes.

"But we got you to kiss Patrick!" Brendon exclaims in protest.

"That's true," Pete says, "but you also kissed Patrick, Ryan let you do it, and it was Joe's idea in the first place."

"Patrick started it!" Brendon says, pointing his finger at the shorter man, "he attacked me with this hickey!" He turns his finger to point at his neck.

"Hey!" Ryan says in surprise, "I didn't even see that."

"Sorry," Patrick mumbles sheepishly.

"That's okay," Ryan shrugs, "I'll just have to make up for it."

And then there's a twig of a man leaping across the table and attaching his mouth to Pete's neck. Pete yelps in surprise and his arms float awkwardly, not knowing what to do. Before anyone could do anything though, Ryan was back in his seat that was Brendon's lap, smiling proudly.

"Jesus Christ, Ross " Pete says, "what are you a fucking vampire?" Pete lacks any hostility though, and after a few seconds of silence the entire table bursts into laughter.

"Wow," Brendon says when he's able to breath again, "Now me and Pete are the only ones with hickies," he says smugly, "brings back memories."

"Ha, ha," Pete replies with sarcasm, "you're not funny asshole."

The group of five continued to banter and chat amicably until closing time. Somewhere along the way, Pete's arm ended up around Patrick's shoulders, and Joe didn't even care that he was a fifth wheel, he just loved seeing his friends happy.

When they go to leave, Pete walks Patrick to his car.

"So I'll see you tomorrow at work, yeah?" Pete asks.

"Yeah," Patrick agrees with a smile. The shorter man presses a quick kiss to his mouth. "Goodnight, Pete," he says before climbing into his car.

Pete watches him drive away with a smile, feeling the happiest he's been for as long as he can remember. He also feels just the tiniest bit upset at himself though, for not realizing Patrick felt the same way, but at least everything finally worked itself out, even if Patrick had to give Brendon a hickey.

That night, Pete falls asleep thinking about Patrick, and how it felt to have his perfect mouth against his own. He's really glad Patrick and Brendon weren't actually together, or he would probably be in Jeanae's bed right now, up all night and unable to sleep. Instead, he gets the best sleep he's had in years.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So theres gonna be one more chapter but this is the end of the main plot. The next chapter is gonna be a time stamp of a couple years in the future, probably with them married. 
> 
> If you have any suggestions/ideas of what the next chapter should be drop a comment! 
> 
> Anyways I hope you enjoyed! Please leave kudos if you did :) ily and thanks.


	5. timestamp: 2 years later

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ahhh the long-awaited wedding timestamp! Im hoping there will be 2-3 more timestamps after this but i am not completely sure. 
> 
> This is still un beta'd, all mistakes are still my own
> 
> *This chapter contains smut! (however poorly written) so if you want to avoid that, just stop reading once they leave the reception.*
> 
> Enjoy :)

Weddings.

They're one of the most memorable nights of a persons life. That can either be a really good thing or a really bad thing. Pete hopes in this case it's a really good thing. Of course, he really has no reason to think it would be a really bad thing, he knows Patrick loves him it's not like he's going to get stood up. It's more likely Pete finds some way to make a fool of himself, like knocking over the cake. But even then, at the end of the night he will officially be Peter Lewis Kingston Wentz-Stumph III.

Technically, he already is, as they went down to the courthouse yesterday with Joe, Brendon, and Ryan to sign the papers. Pat is now legally Patrick Martin Vaughn Stump-Wentz. They should make a club for people with long names.

Anyways, Pete is currently standing in front of a mirror in a small room in whatever church they're at, he honestly can't remember the name. Patrick picked it out. In ten minutes, his dad would arrive to escort him down the aisle. Well, one of two aisles. Patrick had thought up the idea of them being simultaneously escorted down two separate aisles. That way they could quit arguing over who was the bride. (It's totally Patrick).

He's in a royal blue tuxedo with a pale peach tie. He's never really liked dressing up but today is special. Patrick is special. His vows are tucked snugly into his left pants pocket but he doubts he'll need them. He's written and re-written them so many times he could recite them in his sleep. In fact he probably has.

He glances at the clock and a rush of adrenaline crashes over him. Five minutes. The moment he never thought he'd make it to is five minutes away. He's still blown away by the fact that he is in a successful relationship with someone who actually can put up with his shit. and in five minutes he's going to marry the fuck out of him.

It's been two years since him and Patrick started dating. Pete chuckles at the memory. For all the crap he's ever given Joe about his plan to get them together, he's really glad it worked. A year later and they got engaged. Pete spent a week planning a huge theatrical moment for at the office Valentine's Day party but ended up asking over dinner one night. Patrick had made a particularly mind-blowingly precious statement about the world and Pete had happened to have the ring in his pocket. What, was he supposed to just not ask him then and there?

Either way, another year later and here they are. Pete's entire family is here, in another room waiting and in two minutes now, the wait will be over. And if Pete doesn't die of a heartattack when he sees Patrick. Theyre getting married. Married.

Theres a gentle knock on the door before it creaks open slowly. "Pete?"

"Hey, Dad," he replies, turning around to greet his father, who now steps all the way into the room, smiling.

"You look so handsome, son. Your mom amd I are so proud."

"Thanks, Dad. I'm proud too. I never thought this was something I'd get to do, you know?"

"Yeah, I know," his dad says, almost sadly. "You ready?" he adds, holding out his arm.

Pete nods and hooks his arm through his father's, letting himself be led out of the small room and into a hallway. After a few turns, they were at one of the two side-entrances to the main church room. Hell if he knows what it's called. The chapel? Either way, its the room he's about to marry Patrick in and that holds enough significance to him.

Finally, they push through the doors and Pete's eyes instantly find Patrick who is across the room, walking down another aisle. It's a pretty small room -each of them have only invited maybe twenty people- so Pete can see the way the light shines in Patrick's green-yellow-brown eyes. They're his favorite thing to look at and they instantly calm him down a bit. It seems like it takes them hours to meet in the center of the room and Pete just wants to be close enough to touch already. To rub circles over the back of the smaller man's hand with his thumb or to brush his bangs out of his eyes or to kiss the bride. Okay Patrick would kill him if he knew he thought that last one. Pete would be okay with that though, his temper is very cute.

Finally, they meet and Patrick is right there, apparently as antsy as Pete because his hand instantly shoots out and a calm floods over Pete. There's still an untamable excitement buzzing beneath his skin but he feels a bit more in control. Patrick is always able to do that for him and thats why Pete fell in love with him so hard so fast.

Pete doesn't know how long he's been standing there just staring at Patrick, but when he breaks from his trance the priest seems to be well into his speech. He looks around the room and everyone looks so happy. He's blown away for a moment that he was actually able to make it this far in his shitty life. He never thought he'd make it to twenty-one, let alone long enough to make such an incredible gorgeous person his husband.

Life has never been so bright.

Patrick squeezes his hand and he looks up to see the shorter man nodding his head towards the priest.

"What?" Pete asks.

The crowd laughs mirthfully, as does the clergyman.

"I said," the priest says, "Do you, Peter Lewis Kingston Wentz III, take him, Patrick Martin Vaughn Stumph, to be your lawfully wedded husband? To have and to hold, through sickness and in health?"

"Hell yeah, man," Pete replies, giddy with happiness.

Patrick shoots him a look, probably for cursing, but its playful so Pete ignores it. By the time Patrick has said "I, do" and the priest has announced that "the husbands may now kiss," Pete is practically bouncing on his toes. But as soon as the words leave the priest's lips, Pete sweeps Patrick into a hard, though unfortunately rather chaste, kiss. The crows "awwww"s appropriately and Pete knows that he has never been happier than that moment. Except maybe the day him and Patrick kissed for the first time.

Everything after that is a blur. They exchange pleasantries with long-lost family members and brand-new family members and then everyone is filtering outside. They stop to take some pictures- the two grooms, the two best men (Joe and Andy) joined by the ring bearer (Ryan) and the flower girl (Brendon).

After all the commotion is over and time has returned to normal, Pete is in the back of a limo with Patrick for the short ride to the office, where Marc is letting them have their reception.

They spend the drive lazily making out and sipping from a small bottle of champagne that came with the limo. It was a comfortable silence, just basking in the happy glow of being newlyweds, and before long they were parked in the very familiar lot of Eyeball Records. Pete isn't usually one for family gatherings, but now that Patrick is by his side forever he thinks he could live through just about anything.

_____

This is the happiest day of Patrick's life. By far. The only day that compares is when he got his first guitar and Patrick doesn't really know what that says about his life but he doesn't care because now he has Pete forever.

They just arrived at the label where the reception is and there are already numerous cars parked around the lot. They told the limo to take the long way around to give the guests time to arrive so Pete and Patrick could make- in Pete's words- a grand entrance.

The entrance, Patrick admits, is pretty grand. Once they're through the door, hand-in-hand, a net gives way, releasing a hoard of navy and peach balloons while Brendon's band starts their rendition of "here comes the bride."

In the last two years, Brendon's band- Panic! At the Disco- has actually picked up a decent amount of notoriety in the Chicago scene. They just released their second album last month and are set to go on their own short headlining tour. In fact, Patrick is pretty sure he saw a small group of teenagers in Panic! shirts waiting downstairs in the lobby. Its weird to think the Brendon Boyd Urie has fans. They all do. Ryan, Jon, Spencer. Patrick can't help but be insanely jealous. After all, working at a record label isn't quite what he meant when he said he wanted a career in music. He'd give anything to have his own tour.

Pete and Patrick take a seat at a table set aside for them, their parents, and Joe and Andy. As soon as they sit down, Brendon stops whatever he's singing and clears his throat aggressively into the microphone.

"If I could have everyone's attention please," he announces, "I'd like to give a toast."

"Oh this'll be good," Pete says under his breath and Patrick elbows him discretely. Although he totally agrees.

"So," Brendon begins, "I've known Pete since my impressionable age of seventeen. It's insane to compare that crazy kid-in-an-adult's-body with the man i see now. I don't mean to sound super cheesy but- Pete, man, the personal growth I've seen in you is unbelievable. I'm insanely proud of you, dude." He turns to face Patrick, "And Patrick, man. I know our friendship started off in a rather unconventional way...- in fact now that I think about it that could be said about you as well, Pete. Anyways, regardless, I am very glad to have you in my life. You've been a voice of reason in my life countless times, especially when it comes to this one," he points behind his shoulder at Ryan, who has adopted a fondly annoyed expression, "So I just want to say 'thank you' to the both of you, and to wish you well in your new life together. I love you guys."

Brendon sniffs and wipes away a fake tear as he passes the microphone to Ryan. "So, now that that's over with," he shoots a playful look at Brendon, "the refreshments are now open to everyone and we will be cutting the cake in about an hour. Lastly, if you find yourself enjoying tonights music, feel free to look us up! We're called 'Panic! At the Disco' and we have Pete himself to thank for our career! So with that, have a nice night."

Ryan passes the mic back to Brendon and after some tuning, they start into a cover of "Blitzkrieg Bop" by the Ramones. Its not quite the type of music typically found at a wedding but he guesses that's just what he get for letting Pete and Brendon make the setlist.

Dinner passes with a lot of laughter and Pete and Patrick holding hands under the table, even though that leaves him having to eat only using his left hand. Soon, couples begin to migrate to the dance floor and it isn't long before Brendon announces "The Happy Couple's First Dance."

Pete sweeps Patrick onto the dance floor and Brendon's melodic voice starts in on Bowie's "The Prettiest Star."

Patrick is overwhelmed with emotion. There are at least fifty other people in the cleared out office building but it feels like just him and Pete. Everything is narrowed down to their intertwined hands and where Pete's other hand rests on his waist and the small, loving smile reserved just for him on Pete's face. He's never loved another human being more than he loves this utter dork right here, right now. He's so caught up in his flood of love for Pete that he doesn't even notice when the song ends. In fact for all he knows, it could be a half hour later because when he finally registers the music again he's pretty sure Brendon is singing Katy Perry.

"Come on," he says to Pete, pulling him over to the refreshments table, "I'm thirsty."

Pete follows without objection, and they wind up at the punch bowl, each filling themselves a cup. They stand in a comfortable silence for a few moments, just taking in the moment. Patrick isn't sure it's quite registered in his head where he is, sort of like it's all a dream. Though he guesses it is a dream, a dream come true as cheesy as it sounds.

"Hey, Trick," Pete says suddenly, grabbing Patricks hand to get his attention, "So I know we agreed not to get each other gifts because planning the wedding was hectic enough but-"

"Pete, come on."

"It's no big deal, I promise, just something me and the guys chipped in together to get for you."

Patrick sighs. "Alright, what is it?"

Instead of answering, Pete tugs him by the hand, leading him across the room to where Joe and Andy are seated, seemingly deep in conversation with one of Patrick's cousins.

"Hey, Anna," he greets her.

"Patrick!" she jumps up to give him a hug, "I'm so proud of you. Oh, congratulations!"

"Thanks," he and Pete say together.

"Oh, you guys are the cutest! I'll leave you to catch up with your best men, okay?" With that, she scurries off to a group of people across the room, greeting one of them with a tight hug.

While Patrick doesn't have any specifically fond memories with his cousin, it feels nice to be accepted by his family. It's something he's always been thankful for. Though even if he hadn't been so lucky, with the family he's made at Eyeball Records, he knows he could get through anything.

"So," Pete says to Andy and Joe, "you guys ready?"

A sly grin appears on Joe's face. "Oh, I think the real question is whether Mr. Stumph is ready."

"That's Mr. Stumph-Wentz to you, Trohman," Patrick objects, "and besides, Pete said it wasn't anything too big."

"Did he now? Gosh, Pete, two hours in and already the lies have begun. You should've seen how worked up he got over this gift!"

Patrick narrows his eyes at Pete who just shrugs helplessly back and gosh darn it Patrick can't help but to immediately forgive hime.

"Fine," he sighs, "What is it?"

"See for yourself," Pete says, retrieving an envelope from his jacket pocket and gently handing it over.

Patrick looks quizzically between Pete and the envelope before accepting it and carefully opening it up and taking out the single, folded piece of paper. The single, folded receipt. The receipt for five studio hours. Five studio hours at Eyeball Records with the chance at a signed release of a studio EP.

"Pete, I..."

"I know, Trick. But listen, I've seen some of the files you've got saved on GarageBand and you've told me over a thousand times that this place just isn't what you meant when you said you wanted a career in music. You have so much potential, Trick. You really are something great and I just know that someday the whole world is going to see that."

Pete is sort of rambling and he really only does that when he's getting antsy so Patrick grabs him by the lapels and kisses him. God, he's so so in love with this dork and he channels all of that into the admittedly not-quite-chaste-enough-for-a-public-outing kiss and feels Pete begin to relax.

"Pete," he says once they've pulled apart, "thank you so much. I really appreciate it. Even if it comes to nothing, the fact that you went to all that trouble i- just... thank you."

Pete's mega-watt smile is blinding and Patrick hope it imprints on the backs of his eyelids.

Joe clears his throat. "You know, me and Andy helped too."

"Shut up, Trohman," Patrick says playfully, flipping off his best friend.

"Fucker," the curly-haired man mumbles back.

The rest of the night passes in happyhappyhappy. There's cake and dancing and Pete might get a little drunk and steal Brendon's microphone for the last half of The Smiths' "This Charming Man" and Patrick might laugh his ass off. Soon enough, the night is over and the happily married couple are shooed off to let everyone else take care of cleaning up.

They have a room rented at a local resort and then they have a flight to Hawaii tomorrow at noon for their honeymoon. Patrick had insisted that they didn't need a destination honeymoon, that he would just be happy to be with Pete, but his Other Half had insisted it was a required novelty.

Patrick is pretty tired walking through the hotel doorway but as soon as the door is closed and Pete's lips are on his he's awake again. They've done this a million times of course but it feels like the first time all over again. The nerves, the excitement.

Pete leads him over to the bed and pushes him backwards onto the stark white comforter, hovering over him to capture his lips once more. It's rough and domineering but still gentle and loving. Patrick's hands find their way to Pete's waist where he begins untucking his shirt so he can slip one hand under the waistband.

Suddenly Pete breaks the kiss and Patrick is completely offended until he realizes Pete is undressing. He sits up so he can do the same, fumbling at the small buttons on his nice shirt, watching Pete do the same.

Clothing is flung carelessly around the floor until they're both down to their boxers, at which point Pete pins Patrick back down against the bed.

"You're so beautiful, Trick," he says, his hand ghosting over Patrick's skin, "my Trick, mine forever."

Patrick shudders at the possessiveness in his husband's voice. His husband. God, he's the luckiest goddamn bastard in the world. Pete's forever.

He gasps when Pete's mouth lands on his nipple, his teeth biting down gently before smoothing it over with his tongue. He draws it out for a good five minutes, really being a huge tease (read: asshole) before he begins a trail of kisses down to Patrick's last remaining article of clothing.

Pete slowly peels away the shorter man's boxers, freeing his aggravatingly hard cock. The cold air is shocking, but its quickly replaced with a firm grasp, eliciting a loud moan from Patrick. Pete starts sliding his hand slowly up and down his husband's dick, sweeping his thumb teasingly over the head on the upstrokes.

God, Patrick feels like a teenager again, losing his mind so quickly over a handjob. And then, it's not a handjob anymore because Pete's hand has been replaced with his hot, wet mouth. Patrick whines, and Pete hums in return, making him squirm.

He starts off at a steady pace, his head bobbing on Patrick's cock, his eyes fixed on Patrick's own. The noises Pete makes when his mouth moves around him are so elicit and sloppy and dirty it make the younger man's spine tingle. Pete's tongue swirls around his head and dives back down to lick along the long vein on the underside of his dick before repeating the process. A process long perfected from the countless times they've done this before.

"Oh, God," Patrick mumbles almost incoherently, "Pete, please, ohmygod please."

Pete pulls off looking smug, "Please what, Tricky. Tell me what you want."

"Want you, Need you to fuck me." He groans, becoming even more impatient now that his dick lay unstimulated.

"Of course, baby," Pete mumbles against Patrick's neck, "Gonna be so good for you, baby. So good for my husband."

Pete steps back to pull off his boxers and retrieve his lube and the cold air that takes his place sends a shiver down Patrick's spine. He can't remember the last time he needed it this bad. By the time Pete is back, rubbing himself with lube, Patrick is squirming, his hand firmly around his own cock.

"You're so beautiful, Trick, so so beautiful." Pete praises as he litters his torso with kisses.

Just as Patrick is going to tell the older man to hurry up and fuck him, he feels a slick finger poke around his hole. As it pushes its way inside, he lets out an anticipatory groan. He'll probably be embarrassed at his eagerness later on but for now he shamelessly pushes against Pete's finger, asking for more. Pete hums and adds a second finger, bringing the familiar stinging feeling, but Patrick is willing to push through it if Pete will just hurry up and be inside him.

Pete pushes his fingers back and firth at a steady pace and even though Patrick feels he's being quite obvious in how ready he is, it takes five minutes before he adds a third finger and then five more before he pulls them all out and wipes them on the comforter (something Patrick would find gross if he could think about anything other than Pete's dick right now) and finally lining himself up against Patrick's hole.

Pete pushes slowly inside of him, letting out a loud groan and Patrick is already so close. The older man starts thrusting into him at a slow pace, fingertips digging into Patrick's hips, pulling them up to meet his own. He's surprised to see how obviously close Pete already is, he had seen mostly composed a few moments before and already his forehead is breaking out in an obvious sweat and his eyes are glazed over in bliss.

Patrick pulls Pete down into a rough kiss as the thrusts start to pick up pace. He's so close but he knows if he holds on just a bit longer, Pete will catch up, even if it takes every last ounce of self-control he has left.

It doesn't take long for Pete's thrusts to become more erratic and for their kisses to become more frantic.

"Come for me, Pete," he murmurs in Pete's ear and he can feel that set him off. He gives two more forceful thrusts, hitting the perfect spot to send Patrick right over the edge with him before collapsing on top of the smaller man.

Pete pulls out and Patrick can feel his come inside of him while the older man pulls the covers up around them, pulling Patrick closer to him. "I love you, Trick. So so much."

"I love you too, Pete," he smiles, "So so much."

It doesn't take long for them to fall asleep, in love and blissed out and covered in sweat and come. And the next day they'll wake up and they'll still be each other's, and every morning after that forever, Pete will be Patrick's and Patrick's will be Pete's. That might not be something everyone would bet on, but Patrick is willing to take his chances.

 


End file.
